When You Teach at the Same School Your Children Attend

I never wanted to be at the same school as my kids. I was always fearful that I would struggle with separating being a mom and being a professional. My son is a typical, "active" boy, and I didn't want any tension between my colleagues and me if/when we needed to have those tough conversations about him.

When he went to kindergarten last year, we were at separate schools. But then our lives changed when my husband got a new job. When we found out we were going to be moving, I also got a new job at a school in the town we were moving to. Then when we found our house, it turned out that our children would be attending my new school. I suddenly realized there was no getting out of this one. We were going to be at the same school this year.

Benefits of being at the same school:

YOU GET TO SEE YOUR CHILD IN THE SCHOOL ENVIRONMENT!
It is so special to see your child interacting with his teachers, classmates, and friends. Very few parents get to see this at all, and I get to see it every day! Here is my boy getting a math award that I never would've been able to see if we didn't go to the same school.

YOU GET RANDOM SMILES, HUGS, AND "HI MOMS" SHOUTED AT YOU
It's so cute when I'm in the middle of a math lesson and I hear, "Hi Mom!" shouted into my classroom as his class walks by on their way to specials, and then my class will shout "hi" back to him :)

YOU'RE KNOWN AS "_______'S MOM" 
I love getting to know who his friends are! And they're so cute when they come up to ask me if I'm his mom.

YOU'RE IN "THE KNOW"
When he comes home frantic that he needs 5 boxes of mac and cheese for the food drive by TOMORROW, you can calm Dad down by telling him that the deadline is actually three weeks away. But more than school events, you know the curriculum and the programs your child's teacher uses, so you can better help him/her be successful at school.

Tips for making your experience successful:

SNACKS, SNACK, AND MORE SNACKS!
Seriously. Get snacks and DO NOT run out! Some of the snacks I keep in my cabinet and fridge are supplies to make PB&J, string cheese, a bag of clementines, a giant box of Goldfish, yogurt, and fruit cups. He's always starving after school, and I really don't want to hear for 30 minutes (or however long I stay after school to work) about how hungry he is. And it's also nice on the days he forgets to bring a snack for snack time because he just takes something from my cabinet.

SET A ROUTINE
After his snack, he does his homework and nightly reading at one of the tables in my room. That way, when we get home, we can play.

GIVE HIM JOBS
He sharpens pencils for me, counts good behavior tickets and fills in my PBIS chart, takes books back to the library, delivers things to other classrooms. I keep him busy!

TECHNOLOGY
I try not to do this too much, but sometimes he just can't be quiet and I have work to do! I will let him play on my phone, iPad, or even GoNoodle. He has his own GoNoodle account separate from my class's. Here's a little video of him I shared on IG a few weeks ago. It cracks me up every. single. time!

IF YOU CAN, SEND HIM HOME! OR AN AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM :)
I have meetings 2 days a week after school, so we arranged for a responsible high schooler to meet him at the bus stop on those days and stay with him for an hour or two until I get home. It's also nice to have some quiet time after the meetings to get my work done.

BE UPFRONT WITH HIS TEACHER
I let her know that we are aware of his "activeness" (see GoNoodle video above), and to please treat me like any other parent. If she has a concern, I want her to tell me. I also work very hard to not discuss my child every time I see his teacher. I want to have a professional, collegial relationship with her, just like I do with the rest of my coworkers.

TREAT YOUR CHILD LIKE ANY OTHER CHILD AT SCHOOL
If you see a student running down the hall, you would probably shout after them to "WALK!" and then move on. If you see your child running down the hall, do the same thing. Don't call him over and give him a 5 minute spiel about how we walk in school. I always ask myself, "If I wasn't working here, would I find out this happened?" If the answer is no, then I leave it alone.

The Verdict

I never thought I'd say this, but I love that my son and I are at the same school! It's like something special that just he and I have together. I love that we drive to school together (even though most days he cries that Dad doesn't take him to school), and that we go home together. We have the same schedule, which is great for breaks, vacation, and days off. And when he forgets to bring his snow boots home, I can run in on the weekends to grab them! I'm going to be sad when he goes to middle school in 4 years!

Do your children go to your school? Leave a comment below and tell me about your experience!

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Advice for New Teacher Moms

Today I want to share some tips and advice for teachers who are also moms. And if you're not a mom (or a dad!), stay tuned because I have a freebie that could work for everyone at the end!

My kiddos! Sly is 5 years, MC (Middle Child) is 3 years, and Muffin is 10 months.

I have three kids, which means I've been on maternity leave three times. I've heard many stories from teachers across the country about what their schools expect from them while on maternity leave. I am thankful that at my school, they hired a licensed teacher to take my place for up to 12 weeks.

I wrote a 20-ish page document I lovingly called "How to Run my Classroom" and gave it to my long-term substitutes. Haha!! I hope I didn't scare them too much! I met with each of them for at least a half-day before my leave to show them around my classroom, meet my students, and answer questions.

Is it hard to completely disconnect? Yes... and no :) Once you're holding your baby, all you'll be thinking about is feeding, diapers, and sleep. If you're trying to manage a baby and a toddler, or in my case last time, I had a kindergartener, a toddler, and a baby, then the days REALLY fly by. I also felt that for 12 weeks, my classroom wasn't mine-- my long term substitute needed to run my class in the ways that worked best for her. And even the best substitute in the world isn't me. No matter what, I would have to change things when I got back. So I let her do her thing, and then I did mine when I got back. Kids are flexible. When they would question me ("That's not how Mrs. _____ did it."), I would reply, "I know. But this is the way we're going to do it now." and my students were fine. I am thankful for AMAZING teammates who know exactly what I want in my classroom and who were willing to help and mentor my long-term substitutes.

My leaves were unpaid, but I could use my sick/personal days to get partially paid. Although you can imagine how many days left I had after 3 children in 5 years... When my MC was born, I sent Sly to daycare for three half-days. When Muffin was born, Sly was in kindergarten and I sent MC to daycare for three full days. I am thankful for an understanding husband and the ability to save money so I could have one-on-one time with my new babies.

What about when it's time to go back?

Two of my maternity leaves were at the very beginning of the school year. Let me tell you, that was HARD! Another teacher set up my classroom. Another teacher built my classroom community. And then here I come waltzing in 12 weeks later, and, "HEY KIDS! I'm your teacher. Now let's get to work!" I remember after my first maternity leave, I looked at a few of my students and had NO IDEA what their names were! That first week I got back, we did a lot of rules, routines, and expectations. Just like it was the beginning of the year. I moved at a faster pace, since it wasn't the beginning of the year and we had curriculum to cover. I did this even when I came back in January after my October baby. If you don't do this, you'll be dealing with behaviors for the rest of the year.

Are you a nursing mama? I was able to successfully pump at work with MC and Muffin. I pumped for 5 months with MC and 7 months with Muffin. I pumped 3 times a day on most days: 9:00 during my prep, 11:45 at lunch, 1:45 at afternoon recess. I let my principal know ahead of time of my plan to pump, and I was on the scheduling committee, so I could make sure I had consistent times every day to pump. I was also able to switch duties with my teammates so that I never had afternoon recess duty.

When I pumped, I only allowed myself to do it for 15 minutes. Some days it was 10 minutes if I was late getting started or needed to stop early. But my LC told me that any amount of time is better than no time :) By law, your place of work needs to give you time to pump, so if you don't have the schedule that I had, talk to your principal/supervisor.

My space was behind my desk.

I don't have a picture of what it actually looked like behind my desk, but let me tell you about it. Under my desk I had a mini fridge. I used a bathroom mat from IKEA to sit on to keep my bum from getting too cold on the tile floor. I originally bought the mats for my students to sit on during Read to Self, but I have five of them, so I felt OK permanently borrowing it from them! I had an outlet back there and kept my pump plugged in all day long. I also brought a Thirty-One thermal lunch tote back and forth every day to transport my milk and my pump parts. When it was time to pump, I pulled my rolling chair out of the way, unfolded and set up my mat, sat down on the floor and got down to business. I liked sitting on the floor. I could be more relaxed and comfortable on the floor.

I learned that little nugget from my LC. Such a time saver!!

I keep my door locked at all times, so when it was time to pump, I would shut off the lights and close the door. Sometimes I would put a sticky note on the handle of my door, OVER the lock, that said "Please don't come in." I only did that when the custodians were around. Don't need them walking in on that!! Make sure you put the note OVER the lock. I've heard of people putting the note on the door and still getting walked in on. If you put it over the lock, they have to move it in order to key in.

Honestly, I didn't mind if adults walked in on me. All of the teachers in my wing knew about my situation. I was well hidden behind my desk, so I would shout "Hello!" when the door opened, so they knew I was in there. I've also participated in quite a few team meetings while pumping! I never had a student walk in on me, but I have had them rattling the door knob and banging on the door. We had several chats about how it wasn't OK to do that. During inside recess, I would retreat to an empty classroom to pump.

Pumping at work definitely takes dedication. Some women can work while they're pumping. I can't. I found that I didn't make as much when I wasn't relaxed. I had to completely shut off my school brain to pump. Yes, it was hard to get back into school mode. And every night, I came home with a mountain of school work to do because I couldn't do it at work. Yes, many times I would get overwhelmed. But I just kept telling myself that I wasn't doing it for me; I was doing it for my baby. And it was only temporary. It also helped to have many supportive coworkers to remind me that I'm a mom first.

When I go back to work in September, I will not be pumping. #beenthere #donethat #SOoverit! My baby will be a year old, and my plan is to nurse in the morning and at night. But what can I do to make sure I DON'T come home with my school bag bursting at the seams?

I came up with this:

I need to make sure not one second of my prep time is wasted. So I made a schedule of what I am going do and when. This is actually for my schedule last year. I had a prep every day for at least 40 minutes. Every other Monday I had an additional 30 minute guidance prep. Every third Tuesday I had an additional 30 minute Spanish prep. On Thursdays, I had an 80 minute art prep. Every other Friday I had phy ed, which was 40 minutes, in addition to my 40 minute music prep. So those days were a little more loaded than other days.

Do I do all of these things every day? No. I know that things come up. Sometimes I have parents to call or additional meetings to attend. During grading periods, progress reports and report cards need to be completed. But it's a great guide to keep me focused so I'm not wasting 10 minutes of my prep figuring out what to do. Click HERE if you'd like a copy of my "Weekly To Do List." It is editable. You'll need these fonts: KG Skinny Latte, KG Be Still and Know, KG Miss Kindergarten, KG Lego House, KG Always a Good Time. If you use your own fonts, no worries, but some of the formatting will be off.

I love being a teacher. I love being a mom. It definitely is a balancing act to do both well. And having a cleaning lady helps too! What tips do you have for a working teacher mom?

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